You had a glimpse of the Sharp Centre for Design from my previous post on the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). The Sharp Centre was part of the redevelopment of the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) campus a few years ago (completed in 2004). It is quite unusual but appropriate for OCAD and its neighbour to the north – the AGO. One of the things I love about the redevelopment is the creation of the parkette right underneath it. Let’s go for a walk and check out this structure built on sticks.

So, as you walk south on McCaul Street (this is a couple of blocks west from University Avenue) from Queen Street West, you’ll come across a piece of street art on the west side. You don’t have far to walk to our destination from this mural.

Well, here it is… it’s the “table top” like structure with the pixelated black and white facade. To get a sense of scale, it is 9m high, 31m wide and 84m long. The gray building to the south of it is Above Ground, an art supply store. I’ve dropped a bit of coin in this place.

Here’s a better photo so you can see those coloured legs. So, what do you think? Some people hate it. I love that it’s unusual and it stands out from all the other structures surrounding it (it’s actually surrounded by condominiums, but then what part of Toronto doesn’t have these monstrosities dominating our skyline). To be fair, the condos around the area have been around for awhile. But I’m not a fan of all the new condo development in the city. I wish they would have planned it better. We are now saturated with condos – oh yay. When we drive down the Gardiner, you can no longer see the lake because the view has been covered by condos. A colleague really summed it best, “Driving on the Gardiner feels like you’re driving in a tunnel of condos.” Sadly, this is is so true.